Brassica cuttings

[Robert_Brenchley]

What's the best time to take them?

[Robert_Brenchley]

[Pescador]

Never heard of anyone propagating brassicas from cuttings!
What ones do you want to multiply?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Daubenton's Kale; it rarely produces seed, and cuttings are the normal method. I imagine the same method would work for other brassicas.

[Pescador]

I would imagine it's best to use soft sideshoots, dipped in rooting powder.
Let me know how you get on.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Someone just posted on another site that they took cuttings in September and kept them indoors as a precaution against losing their plants. Most of them rooted, apart from the variegated Daubenton's, which is the one I have.

[irridium]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIyfVmX3VLo&feature=related this is what i found on Youtube. I've seen a few of his videos and find the guy really interesting.  ;) ;)

[goodlife]

Robert..I took some more cuttings from my Daubenton and all of them rooted and this second lot only took a week to root..so looks like the best time is now.. ;) ;D
I just had a look that clip...boy! He does like his collard..I though I was a bit 'mad hatter' with my kales but he takes it to totally different level.. :o ;D

[PurpleHeather]

I would like more information on this.

Some one on here told me to cut my leeks down low and let them reproduce earlier this year so we tried it and the bits left in the ground just rotted.

I do know that the side shoots from tomatoes grow into plants (quickest way to get new tomato plants) and that when you cut off a head of cabbage or lettuce, a small one often follows . Fine for allotment holders who only want a small amount. Not commercially viable of course.

[Vinlander]

If you let a leek grow and flower (even better if you stop it flowering) then at some point it will die down and there will be more than one white leek bulb in the soil when you dig it up. They can be eaten as bulbs (if you run out of fresh leek) or planted out to make more leeks next year (though best used quickly as the flowering may be oddly timed).

Don't cut the top off though - that just removes most of the plant's ability to make a bulb.

Cheers.

[PurpleHeather]

Thanks for the leeks tip. 'V'

I think I will just grow new ones.

Mind you I did have a fellow plot holder tell me that his leeks were too thin so he was going to leave them in for another year to see if they would thicken up.

I explained the way leeks usually grow to him which seemed to upset him.

May be the cut down method would have worked from what you say??

[goodlife]

Robert..that clip you sent of Daubenton kale some time ago here..well the head gardener says that the way she takes a cutting it takes 2-3 months to root.
Well..I had couple of those cuttings but, I planted mine in deep black rose pots, used soil based compost and grit, kept them in GH and 3 weeks later they've rooted!  ;D  I'm truly surprised how easy they are after all..
Now why on earth is perennial kale crops fallen out of 'fashion'?
My variegated 'mother plants' have grown so quickly in few weeks that I could find more cutting material already..but I better let them grow so I can have something to taste too..not just chopping it up all the time.. ::) ;D I'm just waiting the Taunton Dean Cottages Kale to grow so I can take cuttings off from those too..
Copy of "that" clip again..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c30-3BWEGAw&feature=player_embedded

[goodlife]

My two different sorts of daubenton kale that are grown from cuttings..
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[Robert_Brenchley]

From what little I've been able to discover - only a suggestion, no hard evidence - it may have been the influence of Victorian commercial gardening that started the decline of perennial kales. Ragged Jack may have been perrennial once, but if so it was reselected for biennial plants. You can imagine that seed merchants would have preferred these. It probably hung on in cottage gardens, and you never know, there may be plants yet surviving. Woburn Kale seems to have disappeared, but who knows?

[goodlife]

Hmm....I think lot of perennial veg have got lost long time ago...one can only life in hope that something may turn up..
I've got lot of red russian on flower at the moment...and although they are not perennial variety anymore...one time apparantely there was variety with same name that was. Last lot of seed that I bought, there popped up few different sort of red russian plants...colouring identical but the leaf shape was diffent in some..so now I'm letting them all flower...and I shall collect seeds and see what turns up...and I shall cut the flower stems down and she which sort may show potential for longer life span... ;)..and maybe try vegetative propagation from those that survive flowering.
All just little fun...but nature shows up some suprising things now and then..who knows perharps with some selective 'breeding' I'll come up with something more permanent. Now that would be nice.. ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

I believe some varieties will sprout again from the base after flowering. I'm looking forward to seeing what 'Spis Bladene' does.

[squeezyjohn]

Just after buying a few rooted plants of Daubentons Kale from France - I happened upon some unrooted cuttings of Taunton Deane at a plant fair while travelling in Somerset.

I got the cutting in mid April and it had a few days in the car with only wet kitchen roll in a plastic bag to keep it fresh.  I cut the end off and plonked it straight in the ground and although I cannot prove that it has rooted - only one of the outer leaves has died and it's starting to get new growth at the tip so I reckon it's going to be successful.  The lady who sold it to me said that she took some cuttings in march and put them in the ground then a couple of weeks later decided that it would be better to put them in pots as she wanted to distribute the new cuttings - she tried to pull them up but couldn't as the roots were already so extensive.  I get the impression that Taunton Deane is pretty vigorous and robust!

Cheers

Squeezy

[Ben Acre]

Why bother. seed is cheap  ,plants are strong, Um is this a wind up ???

[squeezyjohn]

I'm not winding anyone up - promise  ;D

Seriously - there are great benefits to growing true perennial plants even if it comes at the cost of having to do it from cuttings.  Firstly - they grow absolutely massive over a couple of years and they last for ages (6-8 years I've heard).  Several plants can keep you in greens year-round and they develop a very extensive root network which makes the plants even stronger than annuals.  Not going to seed means that they don't flower and bolt the same way annuals do.

If you dedicate a bed to perennial kale of one sort or another then it will just keep going and you can treat it the same way as you would rhubarb, asparagus or even an apple tree.  If it's been going for lots of years or shows signs of not producing enough for you you simply cut a branch off and stick it in the ground where you want a new plant.

Finally - having tasted both types I'm growing I can confirm that the smaller leaves are much milder than all of the other kale types  I've grown in the past meaning you can even use them as a salad green.

Win win I'd say.

Cheers

Squeezy

[Robert_Brenchley]

If you can find seeds of either Daubenton's or Taunton Deane let us know where!

Squeezyjohn, if you ever have spare cuttings from the Taunton Deane I'd like to hear about it. Meanwhile, let us know how it differs from Daubenton's.

[goodlife]

Robert, Taunton Deane Cottages Kale is Daubenton kale..it is the green leaved variety that was talked in GW program..filmed in Knightshayes Court.
Picture of it is above with variageted form..